Category: abbeynews

The question of immigration has become increasingly charged both at home and abroad in recent years, and World Refugee Day later this month offers a timely moment for reflection. The Irish government has announced that Ukrainian refugees will no longer receive housing supports, and is also considering financial incentives to encourage Ukrainians to return home. This is striking, given that the human cost of Russian aggression has not diminished. In response to domestic pressures, the government appears to be asking people to return to a country still at war.

Over in the United States, over 60,000 people are being held without charge by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the question of immigration becoming central to US politics. Meanwhile, across Europe, anti-migrant rhetoric is driving politics and causing turbulence – notwithstanding the demographic collapse in birth rates. For example, in Greece this year the government has closed over 5% of schools in the country and similar closures are imminent across the rest of Europe.

Here I don’t propose to set out a case for immigration reform, to condemn some, or to exonerate others, but rather on the basis of Ireland’s own history of emigration and – more recently – immigration to discern three broad principles:

• “People have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families;”
• “A country has the right to regulate its borders and to control immigration,” since this concerns the common good, and;
• “A country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy.”

The Church has long spoken out on immigration and there are good reasons why she teaches what she does. For this, an examination of some pontifical documents is helpful.

The Encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things) by Leo XIII, 1891

Leo XIII’s encyclical was the “first social encyclical.” Grafting itself onto a tradition hundreds of years old, it signals a new beginning and a singular development of the Church’s teaching in the area of social matters. This encyclical marked the beginning of what we could call the Church’s “social doctrine.” It’s not that the Church ignored social problems before Leo XIII; rather, with this encyclical, the Church began to speak, from Gospel values, her large doctrinal history, and her wealth of experience, to the social issues and ills of the day.

To summarise the document would be too much, so I wish only to point out that, even if it does not do so explicitly, Rerum Novarum laid the basis for the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. These two principles are cornerstones of the Church’s social teaching and are integral to the later establishment of the EU.

Subsidiarity means that action should be taken at the lowest level possible. If, for instance, a family can provide for its children just fine, there is no reason for the state to intervene. If the lower-level falters, then the higher level of authority can come to assist, but the preference is that the lowest level look after its concerns. Solidarity encourages all to work together, since we are all the Body of Christ. This phrase most often refers to the mystical body of the church and also applies to the whole of society.

The Apostolic Constitution Exsul Familia Nazarethana (The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth) by Pope Pius XII, 1952

This little remembered document speaks about the historical undertakings of religious communities to provide spiritual care for immigrants. Pius XII provided a summary of his interventions in recent years and also speaks of the benefits of immigration.

“For this reason, on June 1, 1951 in a radio address on the fiftieth anniversary of the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, we did speak of the right of people to migrate, which right is founded in the very nature of land. “If the two parties, those who agree to leave their native land and those who agree to admit the newcomers, remain anxious to eliminate as far as possible all obstacles to the birth and growth of real confidence between the country of emigration and that of immigration, all those affected by such transference of people and places will profit by the transaction”… In this way, the nations which give and those which receive will both contribute to the increased welfare of man and the progress of human culture.” He goes on “the sovereignty of the State, although it must be respected, cannot be exaggerated to the point that access to this land is, for inadequate or unjustified reasons, denied to needy and decent people from other nations, provided of course, that the public wealth, considered very carefully, does not forbid this.”

The Encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) by Saint John XXIII, 1963

In this encyclical, John XXIII explicitly said that “every human being has the right to freedom of movement and of residence within the confines of his own State. When there are just reasons in favor of it, he must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there. The fact that he is a citizen of a particular State does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor of citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men.”

The Pope speaks of a right to movement and to immigration, but always when there are just reasons for doing so. This is very similar to the right to Freedom of Movement which is one of the fundamental rights set out in EU law. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is direct: “the political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially… the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate” (2211).

The Catechism recognises that states have a legitimate right and a real responsibility to regulate borders in service of the common good. This isn’t a concession to politics. It’s basic Catholic social thought. Pope Leo XIV put it simply in saying that“I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.” He went on to say that migrants’ dignity as human beings must be respected.

A nation fails its own obligations when enforcement becomes an end in itself, when procedural violations are treated as more serious than human dignity, when people who came out of genuine necessity have no path to make things right, when families are torn apart without serious justification, or when a permanent underclass of working people is simply left in legal limbo because it’s economically convenient. The question isn’t only whether laws are enforced. It’s how they’re enforced and whether personal dignity is honoured in the process. It’s important that families are kept together not as a favour but as a moral priority. Similarly special attention should be paid to the most vulnerable; children, refugees and people who didn’t choose their circumstances. The human person is not a problem to be managed, and their dignity has to be upheld.

The right to migrate is real, and it flows from the dignity of the human person. The Catechism says that wealthier nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome those who can’t find safety at home (CCC 2241). Gaudium et Spes(65) grounds this in the universal right to seek the conditions for a dignified life.

The Church asks something genuinely difficult of us: to hold two things at once that our political culture wants to treat as opposites. Human dignity must be protected and social order must be preserved. Ignore either one and you risk injustice. Hold both together and something better becomes possible.

Leo XIV, speaking last year on World Refugee Day, said the “link between migration and hope is clearly evident in many contemporary experiences of migration. Many migrants, refugees and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development and happiness are possible.”

The Pope went on to say that “migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying towards her final homeland.” Ireland’s history of migration to the UK, North America and in our own day to Australia has ingrained the value of international travel and the possibility of seeking a different life away from this island. Having benefitted to such an extent from the hospitality of others, it is paradoxical and embarrassing that this country is struggling to offer hospitality to people arriving here.

Our response must return us to the Gospel, where Christ identifies himself with the stranger, the hungry, the displaced and the vulnerable. World Refugee Day is not only an occasion for political reflection, but for an examination of consciencewhich asks whether our homes, our parishes, our monasteries and our nation still have room for those who knock at the door in need. The migrant and the refugee remind us that we too are pilgrims, dependent on mercy, journeying towards a homeland not made by human hands. To welcome them with justice and compassion is not simply an act of generosity, but rather a way of recognising Christ himself on the road.

Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us.

William Fennelly OSB

+ World Refugee Day is celebrated annually on 20^th June.

Today’s feast of Saint Joseph the Worker presents us with the image of a saint marked by hard work, quiet dedication, and loving concern for the wellbeing of the Holy Family. It recalls the essential sanctity and dignity of work, and reminds us of the relationship between Joseph, the Church, and the cause of workers.

The feast was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to highlight the Christian understanding of work on a day when the Soviet Union promoted communism and military power on International Workers’ Day.

Saint Joseph is proposed as a model of work, and the beautiful image of him mentoring the young Jesus in the craft of carpentry stands out especially today. He exemplifies dedication in providing for one’s family, making of one’s work an offering to God, and of quiet service and integrity. Through his example, even our seemingly mundane tasks at work can become a way of co-operating with God’s plan.

Indeed, work has always formed part of the divine plan. In the creation of the universe, God Himself works and rests, and later He took man and “settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Gen 2:15). Work is thus ordained by God and endowed with a profound dignity.

The importance of workers such as farmers, engravers, smiths, and potters stands out in the writings of Ben Sira, who describes their work and praises their crafts, reminding us that:

“all these are skilled with their hands,

each one an expert at his own work;

Without them no city could be lived in,

and wherever they stay, they do not go hungry.”

(Sirach 38:31-32)

Work also has a distinctively monastic value, as the Benedictine maxim ora et labora suggests. Saint Benedict understood not only the necessity of labour for a monastery to sustain itself, but also as a guard against the spiritual danger of idleness. He therefore prescribed fixed times for work alongside periods of sacred reading, insisting that “when they live by the labour of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks.” In the spirit of Benedictine moderation, he adds, however: “yet, all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.”[1]

Such moderation reminds us that work must be rightly ordered: work is made for man, not man for work. In reflecting on this, we might consider those for whom there is no work or those unable to work, as well as the many whose labour is dangerous, unrewarding, or all-consuming, and all those who are sadly mistreated at work. We recall in a particular way the responsibility incumbent upon Catholics to uphold the dignity of work and defend the rights of workers, in accordance with the Church’s social teaching.

Here John Paul II writes that “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”[2]

This responsibility should also make us attentive to the treatment of workers within the Church itself. As the American Catholic commentator Don Clemmer observes, “the treatment of employees matters for a church with robust social teaching on the dignity of work and the human person,” as “an institution set up to serve people is called to examine its track record as servant of the servants.”[3]

May this feast lead us to reflect more deeply on the example of the holy saint of Nazareth – as a model for our own lives, and as a call to champion the cause of workers around the world.

Saint Joseph the Worker, pray for us.

Justin Robinson OSB

 

 

[1] Rule of Saint Benedict, 48.

[2] John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1.

[3] Don Clemmer, “Church employees are vulnerable to workplace injustice.” U.S. Catholic, 30 April 2024.https://uscatholic.org/articles/202404/church-employees-are-vulnerable-to-workplace-injustice

Please note the following changes to the liturgical timetable and opening hours during Holy Week and Easter at Glenstal Abbey:

 

Holy Thursday

Morning Prayer at 7am.

Midday Prayer at 12.35pm.

Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7pm.

Compline at 9.45pm.

 

Good Friday

Morning Prayer at 7.30am.

Midday Prayer at 12.35pm.

Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at 3pm.

Compline at 8.35pm.

 

Holy Saturday

Morning Prayer at 7.30am.

Midday Prayer at 12.35pm.

Evening Prayer at 6pm.

Solemn Vigil of the Lord’s Resurrection at 10pm.

 

Easter Sunday

Solemn Morning Prayer at 8am.

Mass (no music) at 10am.

Sung Mass at 12 noon.

Solemn Vespers at 6pm.

Compline at 8.10pm.

 

Please note that Morning Prayer will take place at the later time of 7am from Easter Monday until Sunday 12^thApril, with the normal liturgical timetable resuming on Monday 13^th April.

 

Confessions

Good Friday at 11am, 4.30pm and 5.30pm.

Holy Saturday at 11am, 3pm, 4pm and 5pm.

 

Guesthouse

Closed from Wednesday 1^st April until Friday 10^th April.

 

Reception and Shop opening hours

Holy Thursday from 9am-5pm.

Good Friday from 9am-3pm.

Holy Saturday from 10am-5pm.

Easter Sunday from 9am-1pm.

Easter Monday closed.

Tuesday 7^th April, Wednesday 8^th April, Thursday 9^th April from 10am-4pm.

Friday 10^th April from 11:30am-5pm.

Saturday 11^th April from 9:30am-5pm.

I recently had the chance to spend five weeks in Glenstal Abbey. It was quite a different setting from that of my own community: the Monastic Community of Jerusalem (Fraternité monastique de Jérusalem) whose motto, “In the heart of the city, in the heart of God,” indicates our choice to live a contemplative life in the midst of crowds.

Since I joined the community in 2009, I have lived in vibrant cities as diverse as Paris, Montreal, Cologne, and now in Strasbourg. Our community was founded in 1975 in Paris, in response to the then-Archbishop’s call for the creation of monasteries in the city in order to help city dwellers reconnect with contemplation within the urban rhythm of life.

This led to the creation of two independent communities, one of men and one of women, sharing the same spirituality and celebrating the liturgy together. We lead – or try to lead – a contemplative life whilst remaining close to the people. Our experience of work tends to be unusual for a monastic lifestyle: we look for part-time jobs in the city, usually as employees, both to earn a living and to share something of people’s lives.

Some teach in schools, work in hospitals, are secretaries in enterprises, and we sometimes end up in unexpected positions: I studied tourism and heritage management, but during my religious life I found myself working as an editorial secretary for a religious magazine, as an accountant in a charity organization, as a webmaster for my own community and – closer to my skills – as a tour guide in Cologne’s Cathedral.

It can be quite a struggle to lead a monastic life in the turmoil of the city, especially for somebody who grew up in the countryside like me. But – wisely – we leave the city every now and again for what we call a “desert day” and I can reconnect with nature, go for a hike, listen to the “silence” of the countryside, try to identify the birdsong… Needless to say, I particularly enjoyed the surroundings of Glenstal Abbey in this regard!

As in all monastic communities, the singing of the Liturgy of the Hours plays an important role in our daily routine. This is all the more significant to me because prayer is associated with music. Music is indeed one of my joys. Even though I am not from a musical family I was introduce to it at a very young age, and I started playing the clarinet as a child. As an adult, I learned the flute, which proved to be much easier to play with other musicians or with keyboard accompaniment (thus solving for me all the troubles of sight transposition I had with the clarinet!). It was a skill I could develop in religious life and, moving from one place to another, it gave me the opportunity to discover new repertoires, and meet and play with talented musicians. The most recent experience I made was indeed a great source of shared joy: playing the recessional for the First Sunday of Lent – Sonata in F for Flute and Continuo (Opus 2, No. 1) Adagio; Allegro – accompanied on the organ by Abbot Columba McCann OSB.

I warmly thank the monks for their hospitality and kindness. At a time when my own community is undergoing a period of reform, this stay at Glenstal has given me a great opportunity to take some time for reflection and to rediscover monastic life in a new light.

Frère Marc-Abraham Babski, FMJ.

This month the monastic community remembers Brother Benedict Tutty OSB on the 30^th anniversary of his death.

John Gerard (Sean) Tutty was born in Hollywood, County Wicklow, on 6^th July 1924. After secondary school with the Christian Brothers in Naas, County Kildare, he helped for some years in his father’s businesses in Hollywood.

He entered Glenstal on 19^th November 1949, receiving the name Benedict and was professed on 21^stNovember 1951.  He was sent to the art school at Maredsous Abbey in 1952 where he blossomed artistically.

A year spent in Münsterschwarzach Abbey from 1961 to 1962, under the tutelage of Brother Adelmar Dölger OSB who helped him to perfect his technique as a craftsman and also widened his artistic horizons.

Back in Ireland, his career took off and he became one of the country’s foremost liturgical artists – a term he disliked. He was the right man in the right place at a time when many churches were being re-ordered after the Second Vatican Council and many new ones being built. He had an excellent working-relationship with the architect Richard Hurley, with whom he developed a close friendship.

While continuing to work on a steady stream of commissions and developing a distinctive style, Brother Benedict was a model of monastic observance – an observance flavoured with his own sardonic slant on human nature and monastic life. For many years he was elected to the Seniorate and acted as zelator – effectively assistant novice-master.

He taught the foundation-course in the Limerick School of Art and Design and held Saturday-morning art-classes for local children in his workshop.

In 1974 he contracted brucellosis, which made it impossible for him to work in his principal medium of copper. He began to experiment with terracotta, rapidly gaining a mastery of this medium. A testimony to this is the Madonna and Child presently in the reception-area of the monastery.

On the 21^st March 1996 he participated enthusiastically in the celebration of the Transitus of Saint Benedict, expressing optimism for the future of the community. He died suddenly the following morning, 22^nd March 1996.

May he rest in peace.

The Limerick Museum cordially invites you to the opening celebration of The Mystery and the Mud: Exhibition of Paintings by Emmaus O’Herlihy OSB on Thursday 9^th April 2026 at 5.30pm at the Limerick Museum, The Old Franciscan Friary, 111-112 Henry Street, Limerick, V94 VW2D. The exhibition continues through 30th April.

Emmaus O’Herlihy OSB is a Benedictine monk and visual artist at Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, County Limerick. His paintings draw on Christian imagery while engaging contemporary aesthetic and theological questions. In particular, his work considers how recent artistic strategies reshape aesthetic priorities and awaken an ethical summons to the Other.

Brother Emmaus uses art to challenge a dualistic mentality that would over-spiritualize the human person at the expense of our physical reality. This focus on the physical form aims to move beyond the fixed, harmonious bodies of Classical art toward a representation that is open to the messiness of lived experience.

Emmaus holds a Bachelor of Design from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and completed both a Master of Theological Studies and a Doctorate in Theology at the University of St Michael’s College, University of Toronto, Canada.

His research – awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence – challenges static perceptions of the divine, a theme that permeates his own canvas. Central to Emmaus’ work is the principle of caro salutis est cardo, salvation hinges on the flesh.

Emmaus’ work has been shown in Toronto, London (Ontario), Los Angeles, Munich, Dublin, and Limerick.

Áine Lawlor of RTÉ Radio 1 explores religious, spiritual and ethical issues through discussions, interviews and features in her Divine Sparks series. Her show recently came to Glenstal Abbey, offering listeners a few moments of calm and insights into life at the monastery. Listen from 24 minutes here…

Fr. Simon Sleeman: John, in his gospel is on an urgent mission but he is not in a hurry. He is patient…he gives us every chance to get it – gives us sign after sign to convince us that this man, Jesus, was sent by God and is truly the Son of God. Sent, sent, sent….40 times John says it in one way or another….Today we have the sixth sign…one more to go…the raising of Lazarus…and then the biggest one of all, the resurrection…Today he is after our possible blindness to the truth.

John sets this ‘sign’ up carefully. First, Jesus heals the man born blind – something he didn’t even ask for – breaks the Sabbath, and having stirred things up sufficiently, disappears – his longest absence in the gospel.

And then John then goes at…challenging us, putting us, his audience to work for some self-reflection on the health of our sight  – invites to watch his carefully chosen protagonists, enter the stage, in pairs – and decide…. ‘Who do you say I am?’ ‘A man sent by God?’  Well, I’m not sure about that…and we watch as blindness unfolds before our very eyes.

First the Indifferent Eye: the locals – friends, neighbours – filled with curiosity at this happening in our quiet village…nothing ever happens here. They are don’t care who did it they just can’t wait to bring him to the religious experts, the Pharisees and see how they react. Their indifference and sense of inadequacy blinds them.

And the man born blind sees this man, Jesus.

Next the Judgemental Eye: Enter the Pharisees –  the respectable people, the religious experts of their day, the recognised authority on the scriptures and the law – they don’t hesitate – they pronounce their verdict quick time, their minds settled…closed…‘he is a sinner’ ‘breaking the Sabbath’. No question…end of matter.

Judgement blinds them and the man born blind acknowledges Jesus as a prophet.  (I sometimes wish this man had a name, but maybe he is all of us)

Next up, ‘The Fearful Eye: The Pharisees, irritated by the whole scene send, as one does on such occasions, for his parents.  ‘The parents are out of their depth and intimidated by the authorities. ‘It is not our fault, we know nothing about this’, ‘Ask him. He is old enough’. And fear takes over, and blinds them.  And the Pharisees murmur.

The Man born blind acknowledges that Jesus is from God.

The parents exit, quietly, and more Jews arrive. Our friend gets a further grilling …Now it is his turn to be irritated – he even makes fun of them and is not the least intimidated but just astonished at their lack of insight.

Next the Resentful Eye: The Jews, angry with this once blind man and resentful of this disruptive, meddling Jewish Jesus, chase the Man born blind into darkness – they think, they hope…their anger and resentment spilling over, they are blind.

And then as if from nowhere, Jesus re-appears. He heard how the Pharisees had mistreated his friend and he went looking for him… they meet and Jesus looked at him and loved him. The man born blind sees Jesus for the first time and recognises the sign which everyone else missed… God present and at work in his life and the man born blind believed in this man sent by God, this Son of Man and worshipped him.

John leads us slowly.. Who do you see? Maybe we don’t, can’t see- sight dimmed by indifference, sight closed by judgement, by murmuring, sight shut down by fear, clouded by resentment and anger? 

And finally, John  presents the Loving Eye. See the ‘truth’, ‘love’ standing before you  …The Son of Man inviting you…. ‘Unless you see a thing in the light of love’, John tells us, ‘you will not see it at all’. It is with the loving eye that reality is revealed, blindness healed, and life transfigured and renewed. Love is the light in which we see light.

‘Yes’ you are the Christ, the Son of God’. You have the message of eternal life….Yes, yes, yes.’  I see….

Fr. Denis Hooper: THE ENGLISH COMEDIAN NOEL COWARD SANG A SONG IN THE 1950’S TITLED “MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN GO OUT IN THE MIDDAY SUN”

SOME OF YOU WILL HAVE GONE ON HOLIDAYS TO HOT COUNTRIES IN THE SUMMER AND WILL HAVE EXPERIENCED WHAT IT IS LIKE DURING A SEVERE HEATWAVE. ANYONE WITH A BIT OF SENSE STAYS INDOORS DURING THE MIDDAY SUN WITH THE AIRCONDITIONING TURNED UP TO FULL!

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE HEAT OF THE MIDDAY SUN IN PALESTINE. PEOPLE CAN COLLAPSE FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION. SOME PEOPLE EVEN DIE FROM IT.

I LEARNED A LESSON FROM A PARAMEDIC WHO TREATED A MAN WHO HAD COLLAPSED FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION – NEVER WEAR LONG PANTS IN A HEATWAVE – THEY TRAP THE HEAT. ONLY WEAR SHORTS…

IN FLORIDA THEY SAY THAT AT MIDDAY YOU COULD FILE A MISSING PERSON REPORT. LOOKING FOR YOUR SHADOW.

WHEN YOU COME INTO THIS CHURCH – ON THE LEFT AS YOU ENTER – YOU WILL SEE A PAINTING OF JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT THE WELL. THE TITLE OF THE PAINTING IS “DE PROFUNDIS” WHICH TRANSLATES “OUT OF THE DEPTHS”

“OUT OF THE DEPTHS” IS A QUOTE FROM PSALM 130 AND THE PAINTING IS INSPIRED BY THIS QUOTE – ALONG WITH TODAY’S GOSPEL FROM JOHN

THE COLOURS IN THE PAINTING SUGGEST THE BURNING HEAT OF THE MIDDAY SUN 

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN IN THE PAINTING IS HOLDING A BUCKET. JESUS HAS HIS HANDS FREE  – SHE LOOKS STRESSED – HE LOOKS CALM. LOTS OF CONTRASTS

JEWS AND SAMARITANS DID NOT GET ALONG – THEY BELIEVED IN THE SAME GOD BUT HAD FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES ABOUT HOW AND WHERE THEY WORSHIPPED GOD.

JESUS STARTS THE CONVERSATION WITH THE WOMAN

IT SOON BECOMES CLEAR THAT THEY ARE NOT ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH. BOTH OF THEM TALK ABOUT WATER BUT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT DIFFERENT KINDS OF WATER.

SHE IS TALKING ABOUT WATER THAT QUENCHES THE THIRST. IT IS A LIQUID JUST LIKE A COLA OR ANY LIQUID WHICH QUENCHES OUR THIRST

JESUS OFFERS A WATER WHICH IS DIFFERENT – A SPIRITUAL WATER – THE WATER OF LIFE – “UISCE BEATHA” -THE WATER WHICH ADDRESSES OUR MOST FUNDAMENTAL SPIRITUAL LONGINGS

I RECENTLY LISTENED TO BOB GELDOF BEING INTERVIEWED BY BRENDAN O’CONNOR ABOUT HOW HE DEALT WITH THE TERRIBLE GRIEF HE HAS EXPERIENCED IN HIS LIFE: THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER WHEN HE WAS NINE; HIS FORMER WIFE; AND HIS DAUGHTER. I RECOMMEND ANYONE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST OF THE INTERVIEW AS IT IS – PROFOUNDLY DE PROFUNDIS- PROFOUNDLY “OUT OF THE DEPTHS”!

I CAN’T HELP ASKING MYSELF THAT IF HE WAS AWARE OF THE HEALING WATER JESUS OFFERS THAT IN SOME WAY BOB GELDOF WOULD HAVE FOUND A DEEPER WELL HE COULD HAVE DRAWN FROM. 

JESUS TELLS US: “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, THEY SHALL BE CONSOLED”

BOB GELDOF SAID HE DIDN’T PICK HIS SCABS OF GRIEF. BUT I KNOW THAT WHEN I HAVE A SCAB I INEVITABLY BUMP IT AGAINST SOMETHING, OFTEN CAUSING IT TO BLEED. 

TO CONTINUE WITH THAT IMAGERY, I AM CERTAIN THAT THOSE OF US WHO EXPERIENCE GRIEF AND WHO TURN TO JESUS FOR THE HEALING WATER HE OFFERS US IN OUR GRIEF –

– WE DO NOT HAVE “SCABS OF GRIEF”. RATHER THOSE SCABS FOR US ARE HEALING SCARS WHERE WE FIND SOME COMFORT AND MEANING IN OUR GRIEF… –  BUT THEY ARE SCARS NONETHELESS AND THEY NEVER DO GO AWAY

THE LESSON FROM TODAY’S GOSPEL IS THAT IF YOU TURN TO THE LORD YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. YOU TOO MAY DRINK OF THE WATER OF LIFE – “THE UISCE BEATHA” –  JESUS OFFERS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US

LET’S TURN TO PSALM 130 ONCE AGAIN 

TOWARDS THE END OF THE PSLAM GIVES MEANING TO THE KIND OF WATER JESUS OFFERS THE SAMARITAN WOMAN:

PSALM 130 SAYS: “HOPE IN THE LORD

FOR WITH THE LORD THERE IS UNFAILING LOVE AND FULLNESS OF REDEMPTION”

I HAVE JUST FINISHED READING JAMES PLUNKETT’S BRILLIANT NOVEL, STRUMPET CITY. ONE OF THE CENTRAL CHARACTERS IN THE BOOK IS RASHERS TIERNEY – A MAN BARELY ABLE TO SURVIVE FROM DAY TO DAY, LIVING IN THE AWFUL POVERTY OF THE DUBLIN SLUMS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY.

RASHERS HAS A ROW WITH A YOUNG PRIEST, FR.O’CONNOR AND SAYS HE IS GOING TO CHANGE PARISHES AS A RESULT. HE SAYS HE IS GOING TO KNOCK ON THE DOOR OF A CHURCH IN A NEARBY PARISH. HE KNOWS WHAT GOD WILL SAY TO HIM: “COME ON IN RASHERS, I KNEW YOUR KNOCK”.

WE PRAY THAT GOD WILL RECOGNISE OUR KNOCK ON THE DAY WE CALL ON HIM FOR THE WATER OF LIFE

Fr. Jarek Kurek: Some fifteen hundred years ago there lived a holy man who, like Abraham, who we heard about in the 1st reading, was not afraid to take risks. Because of that courage, that holy man was richly blessed by God; and again, like Abraham, he became a blessing for countless people in the centuries that followed.

Most of you here, I’m sure, know this saint well, as students of a Benedictine school. It is St Benedict—Benedictus in Latin, a name that simply means “blessed”—whom I want to speak to you about today.

Benedict must have been around your age when he made his first major life decision. Disappointed with the world he lived in—despite receiving a good education—he chose to leave it behind. At first glance, this might seem like a reckless move. But deep down, Benedict knew exactly what he was doing. It was not an impulsive escape, but a well-informed decision. As his biographer tells us, “even as a boy, Benedict had the heart of an elder.” Already as a boy he had the heart of and elder…

So he left everything because he wanted to respond fully to God’s call and to serve Him alone. This marked the beginning of Benedict’s journey into the mountains—both literally and spiritually.

The beginnings were not easy. Benedict chose a harsh way of life: high up in the wilderness, with little food and great isolation. Yet aren’t these very challenges the ones that test a person’s character and shape true resilience?

Before long, word of his radical way of life spread, and disciples began to arrive. People wanted to learn from him and to live as he did. Eventually, Benedict was asked to lead a nearby community. This is where he truly began to learn about human nature—about how difficult it can be to guide others. And believe me, this was not an easy lesson. In fact, this was the moment when Benedict lived out, in its fullest sense, the exhortation we heard from St Paul in today’s second reading: “Join with me in suffering for the Gospel.”

What happened? The very community he was leading tried to poison him. Why? Because Benedict’s standards were too demanding for them. He aimed too high. And how did he respond? He did not retaliate or argue. Instead, he calmly left. Once again, he made a wise and well-discerned decision.

At that time, Benedict felt it was better to live alone with God. He withdrew because he saw things differently. He had a broader, more global vision—one that allowed him to grow even further in wisdom.

In time, Benedict was blessed with deeper spiritual insight and new disciples who truly wanted to learn from him. It was through these experiences, and his remarkably visionary approach, that the Rule of St Benedict was born. This famous document responded to the needs of people in Benedict’s own day, it paved the way for many generations—and it continues to guide thousands of monks around the world, as well as many lay people who strive to live according to its spirit.

It was also Benedict who set the pattern of placing monasteries high in the mountains—think of Monte Cassino. Even today, many Benedictine monasteries are blessed with truly spectacular locations, places that lift both the eyes and the soul.

Finally, consider Benedict’s own experience of a kind of Transfiguration. All his life, he aimed high, relentlessly moving upward. In the final phase of his life, he was granted an overwhelming vision of light. We are told that he saw the whole world gathered into a single ray of sunlight. Within that light, he saw a soul being carried upward by angels in a ball of fire. And I like to believe that there, as in today’s Gospel, Benedict beheld Christ himself—revealed in his cosmic glory.

Gregory the Great, Benedict’s biographer, explains how such a vision was possible. It happened because Benedict’s mind and heart had grown so vast that they could embrace the whole world.

And that is my message to you: aim high. Take risks. Grow in wisdom. Imitate St Benedict by expanding your heart and your mind, and step by step, become a person of his stature. Thus you too will be a blessing for many.